What is IBI—What is Its Goal?

IBI is organizing women’s consumer power to put more women at the top. It’s fair, it’s smart!

By making fundamental changes at the board level, women’s voices will have the forum they deserve, and society will be better served by a world in balance.
Non-profit IBI is a consumer movement that is organizing the most powerful economic voice: Women’s purchasing power, to see that boards of directors reflect the gender of their clientele. At the present time this means substantially increasing the number of women on boards. Women hold 80% of the consumer purchasing power, but have little or no voice on how decisions are made in the public and private institutions that control our lives. A board of directors may not seem to touch your world, but very often has more impact on you than your elected government. IBI is committed to a world where women and men share power collaboratively; a world that IBI thinks would not only be fair, but that would bring about a new perspective to solving today’s complex problems.

Why are we doing this?
Because women as well as men, should be making the decisions about how our society operates. At the moment, corporate boards in Canada are made up of 12% women; in the USA about 15%; and in Britain about 8%. For NGO’s and legislatures, the numbers are only slightly higher. This means that currently, policy and the allocation of funds decided upon by the majority of institutions, is not done by women in conjunction with men, it is done almost exclusively by men. This is not fair individually; and on a societal level it is not responsible, as women represent a vast resource of largely untapped intellectual power that should be accessed to help solve the issues of today. Thousands of qualified women are waiting to serve on boards of directors, but they are not being invited to do so in proportion to their consumer power, their gender or qualified numbers.

How is IBI going to achieve its goal?

• Women account for approximately 80% of all consumer purchases, which translates into enormous power in our market-driven society. IBI has initiated a grassroots membership campaign across Canada, the USA and the UK; and will organize women’s economic power by creating a far-reaching network of women, men, women’s advocacy groups and other organizations who share IBI’s vision. This grassroots network will mobilize its members through economics and activism to provide the leverage needed to instigate change within the structure of public and private corporate, non-profit and public sector boards. We need your voice ... it costs nothing and pays much!
• IBI will become a label that many institutions will want to be allied with to:
  - Attract consumers.
  - Gain a competitive edge.
  - To gain a competitive edge.
  - Attract the best employees by demonstrating that women are welcome at all levels - this in a world where babyboomers are fast retiring and leaving gaps in the workplace will be vital.
• With a detailed strategy and membership campaign.
• A multi-media presentation is being developed that will enable members to introduce IBI to groups in their communities; and allow IBI to take its strategy to institutions.
  

IBI hopes to achieve these main outcomes:

• Give the huge reservoir of women’s brainpower and its ideas, the real powers to be acted upon in our world.
• Generate new thought about how to solve some of today’s difficult problems in private and public sectors.
• Give society a way to break down some of the existing gender barriers that are still preventing women in large numbers from being asked to serve at the top.
• See political parties reflect the same gender basis in their nominations of candidates.

A link to a printable version of quick facts about IBI: IBI_INFO.pdf